Alnus

Alders are trees of the genus Alnus in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species extending into Central America, as well as the northern and southern Andes.

Alnus

AnRo0002 · CC0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
alderPBDB
Sits inside
BetulaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Angiospermae

Time the record covers

At least 83 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 89.8 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 7 of 506 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 34 of 506 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 144 of 506 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 67 of 506 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 151 of 506 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 36 of 506 occurrencesPleistocene — about 55 of 506 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 1 occurrence82–79 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences79–76 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences76–73 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences73–70 Mya — about 1 occurrence70–67 Mya — about 2 occurrences67–64 Mya — about 7 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 10 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 10 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 28 occurrences55–52 Mya — about 60 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 23 occurrences49–46 Mya — about 8 occurrences46–43 Mya — about 7 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 7 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 8 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 11 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 16 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 16 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 23 occurrences24–21 Mya — about 16 occurrences21–18 Mya — about 13 occurrences18–15 Mya — about 18 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 48 occurrences12–9.2 Mya — about 34 occurrences9.2–6.1 Mya — about 27 occurrences6.1–3.1 Mya — about 34 occurrences3.1–0 Mya — about 75 occurrences83.6 Mya11.7 ka92 Mya0 Mya

506 occurrences of Alnus on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

506 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

71 formations

Willwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.17°N, 108.48°WWillwood — 44.29°N, 108.05°WWillwood — 44.17°N, 108.56°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 107.00°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.18°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.33°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.28°N, 108.05°WWasatch — 41.91°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 41.72°N, 107.80°WWasatch — 41.83°N, 108.38°WWasatch — 41.87°N, 108.00°WWasatch — 41.83°N, 108.03°WWasatch — 42.34°N, 108.16°WJohn Day — 44.64°N, 120.30°WJohn Day — 45.00°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.95°N, 120.33°WJohn Day — 44.14°N, 120.27°WJohn Day — 44.15°N, 120.31°WJohn Day — 44.57°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.30°N, 120.83°WJohn Day — 44.16°N, 120.46°WJohn Day — 44.94°N, 120.40°WFort Union — 44.36°N, 108.06°WFort Union — 44.00°N, 108.00°WFort Union — 43.90°N, 105.20°WFort Union — 44.80°N, 106.10°WFort Union — 43.40°N, 105.30°WFort Union — 43.40°N, 106.00°WFort Union — 44.80°N, 106.00°WFort Union — 43.40°N, 105.10°WFort Union — 43.30°N, 105.00°WCanning — 69.79°N, 145.32°WCanning — 69.86°N, 145.27°WCanning — 69.92°N, 143.38°WSagavanirktok — 69.95°N, 144.55°WSagavanirktok — 69.38°N, 148.71°WSagavanirktok — 69.41°N, 148.65°WSagavanirktok — 69.44°N, 148.51°WSagavanirktok — 69.53°N, 147.75°WSagavanirktok — 69.56°N, 147.53°WItahana — 36.25°N, 138.50°EItahana — 36.32°N, 138.85°EItahana — 36.50°N, 139.00°EItahana — 36.25°N, 139.00°EChallis Volcanics — 44.37°N, 114.24°WYagii — 36.08°N, 139.17°EGuchengzi — 41.84°N, 123.90°EChu Chua — 51.37°N, 120.15°WChu Chua — 51.36°N, 120.15°WOkhonchevayamskaya — 60.42°N, 165.92°ELower Ugnu Sands — 70.41°N, 149.69°WMotojuku — 36.25°N, 138.75°EOgawa — 36.50°N, 138.00°EOgawa — 36.42°N, 138.08°ERenova — 45.20°N, 112.16°WRenova — 45.50°N, 112.50°WChloropagus — 39.58°N, 119.37°WChloropagus — 39.58°N, 119.35°WPyramid — 39.90°N, 119.55°WBeaverdam — 42.24°N, 114.08°WSalmon City — 45.18°N, 113.88°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.70°WWuyun — 49.28°N, 129.67°EMalboro Clay — 38.17°N, 77.04°WTatman — 44.19°N, 108.58°W

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The named rock units Alnus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 47 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 259 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Alnus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Alnus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,972 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 308 sites for Alnus, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

102 references

Each of the 506 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 90 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Alnus

Credit
AnRo0002
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Alnus glutinosa · hlu:ccc:444

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBetulaceae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Miller 1754